Computers and telephone switchboards such as PBX's and other data processing equipment have been made smaller as well as increasing the speed at which the signal information is processed. This has required miniaturizing the components and increasing the density thereof including the electrical contacts for making the electrical connections therefor. Contacts that have been used for the electrical connections as shown in FIG. 6 are in the form of a receptacle contact in which four resilient cantilever contact members 1a,1b and 2a,2b extend forwardly from a base 3 for electrical connection with a tab contact inserted from the front. The tab contact is electrically engaged by the four leaves 1a,1b and 2a,2b from four directions. In this prior art contact, the four leaves are arranged as opposing pairs, and each pair is arranged orthogonally as shown in FIG. 6.
In the above-mentioned receptacle contact, electrical engagement is made with the tab contact at four points, thus, the reliability of the receptacle contact is improved in comparison with a contact having only two contact points. However, a problem arises in that a possibility of an incomplete electrical engagement caused by foreign matter on the surface of the tab contact can take place. Furthermore, one of the pair of contact members 1a,1b or 2a,2b may engage the edge surfaces of the tab contact, therefore these contact members will not provide a reliable electrical connection. The edge surfaces of the tab contact are the surfaces of edges formed when the tab contact is made by stamping a sheet of conductive material. These surfaces are rough in comparison with the planar rolled or formed surface of the sheet, they have a lower contact reliability, and a greater insertion force is required at the time of insertion. Further, in the case of the receptacle contact shown in FIG. 6, the contact members electrically engage the post terminal at spaced opposed locations which makes it difficult to increase the mounting density because the size of the contact is large. This requires that the spacing between contacts must be made larger when a plurality of contacts are mounted in a housing or on a printed circuit boad.